What is your favorite book/author to read?

[terri-eddie]

Who is your favorite author to read on vacation/cruise? I bought and saved John Sandford's newest Lucas Davenport Novel 'Golden Prey'. But I need more titles/authors. Sandford only puts out 1 Lucas Davenport novel a year. IF I had my way, he'd be (Sandford, that is) chained to a desk crunching out the life of Lucas and Letty and his Criminal Apprehension lackeys. LOVE these characters. ;p

 

Do you bring books/nooks/kindles on your cruise or are you too busy?

 

I read a lot every day, not just on vacation. I like Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, JK Rowling, Nora Roberts, JD Robb, and many others. I download tons of books to my e-reader so I always have lots to choose from.

[paul929207]

"Someone borrowed my Centennial by Michener, and hasn't returned it, so that will be a kindle buy- loved that book. A similar author is Edward Rutherfurd... His London, and his New York are favourites, and it's about time I re-read Sarum."

 

.... don't you just HATE it, when that happens? My wife is under strict "no nookies for a month" instructions NEVER to lend any of my books to anyone!

Unfortunately I think there is no Kindle version of any James A. Michener books available. At least not for downloads with an Amazon UK or Australia account.

My wife taught singing to a niece (or was it grand daughter) of James Michener. She said that he was not happy with all that computerized stuff and wanted people to read "real" books.

I fully agree with that, however it is just so convenient to have 500 books in your jacket pocket.

 

Our library has a number of Michener books available on Kindle. In addition we have bought several that we could not get there.

[cruisemom42]

I'm obsessed with ancient history and archaeology. I enjoy reading "meaty" books on cruises -- the kind of thing I don't have the time to sit down and read/think about in the course of my daily life. Some favorite authors are Anthony Everitt, Adrian Goldsworthy, Mary Beard, Eric Cline, John Julius Norwich, Robert Hughes, etc.

 

My Kindle is great because it lets me bring a wide variety of things to choose from, depending on my mood and where I'm traveling. I like to be able to read the original sources on Roman history -- for example, Tacitus, Suetonius.

 

Robert Harris has written some good novels about Cicero (a trilogy) and a fast-paced story about Pompeii. I also really enjoyed Colleen McCullough's series of long novels set in late Republican/early Imperial Rome.

[LynnTTT]

I love to read and download lots of books on my Kindle, especially for a transatlantic cruise. I tend to get "free" or very inexpensive books, but for long cruises I'm willing to pay for a few bestsellers.

 

If you haven't read any current Indian fiction, you should try it. Most of the stories center around family. A Passage to India, anything by Lahiri, Seth, manan Kapoor, Amitav Gosh, Kiran Desai.

 

My husband is a slow reader (his description) and on the last few transAtlantics he has read a Dickens! They are long and dense but with wonderful character descriptions. It usually takes him the whole cruise + to get thru one.

[jocap]

I love to read and download lots of books on my Kindle, especially for a transatlantic cruise. I tend to get "free" or very inexpensive books, but for long cruises I'm willing to pay for a few bestsellers.

 

If you haven't read any current Indian fiction, you should try it. Most of the stories center around family. A Passage to India, anything by Lahiri, Seth, manan Kapoor, Amitav Gosh, Kiran Desai.

 

My husband is a slow reader (his description) and on the last few transAtlantics he has read a Dickens! They are long and dense but with wonderful character descriptions. It usually takes him the whole cruise + to get thru one.

 

For our last TA, I downloaded The Complete Works of Frances Hodgson Burnett... the Secret Garden/Lord Fauntleroy author. So many more stories, and some great social insights of her time. But yes- It takes me a while with Dickens, possibly because we had to study him so much at school! :rolleyes:

[Kartgv]

...Unfortunately I think there is no Kindle version of any James A. Michener books available. At least not for downloads with an Amazon UK or Australia account.

...

 

That's interesting - they are available on the US site. It looks like most of them became available at the same time in 2014, so you might want to check again if you haven't looked in a couple of years.

[newport dave]

I'm obsessed with ancient history and archaeology. I enjoy reading "meaty" books on cruises -- the kind of thing I don't have the time to sit down and read/think about in the course of my daily life. Some favorite authors are Anthony Everitt, Adrian Goldsworthy, Mary Beard, Eric Cline, John Julius Norwich, Robert Hughes, etc.

 

My Kindle is great because it lets me bring a wide variety of things to choose from, depending on my mood and where I'm traveling. I like to be able to read the original sources on Roman history -- for example, Tacitus, Suetonius.

 

Robert Harris has written some good novels about Cicero (a trilogy) and a fast-paced story about Pompeii. I also really enjoyed Colleen McCullough's series of long novels set in late Republican/early Imperial Rome.

 

If you like historical novels, Bernard Cornwell is great. Apart from one of his novels none of them are 'Ancient' history, more medieval.

[lackcreativity]

Thanks for the info. and help. I appreciate it. I can't go anywhere without my Nook books. I guess it's my security blanket. It's not so much the authors that I don't like, I just want to find a character that I can get into and follow their life like I have with Davenport. Although I have to laugh at the names Sandford uses. Del Capslock? Delete key and Capslock key? LOL. Davenport .... sofa/couch?

 

If you are character driven in your reading selections, have you tried Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Garmache series? Set in Canada, this series of murder mysteries has one of my favorite sets of characters.

Edited June 11, 2017 by lackcreativity
to correct quote

[jocap]

If you are character driven in your reading selections, have you tried Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Garmache series? Set in Canada, this series of murder mysteries has one of my favorite sets of characters.

 

I agree with this- again, I have the set on my kindle, but haven't finished them all. I know the village well, in my mind...:D

[Guest maddycat]

I really enjoy reading mysteries. My favorite authors are: David Baldacci, Harlan Coben (he lives in Ridgewood, NJ and his books are set in northern NJ and NY), Lee Child, Catherine Coulter, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerristen, John Grisham, Greg Iles, and Stuart Woods.

[Barrheadlass]

If you are character driven in your reading selections, have you tried Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Garmache series? Set in Canada, this series of murder mysteries has one of my favorite sets of characters.

 

One of my absolutely favorite authors! Make sure you read them in order.

[lackcreativity]

One of my absolutely favorite authors! Make sure you read them in order.

 

Very good advice. Unknowingly, I did make the mistake of starting in the middle, and fell in love anyway. Wish I could have undone that mistake and started at the beginning. With some mystery novels, it doesn't matter so much, but the character development over time (as well as the sequence of events) is important for Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache.

[whogo]

I was pleased to see recommendations for Christopher Moore and Terry Pratchett on this thread. The Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde are similarly amusing. Surprised to hear that people have found Dickens hard to get through, I found his books to be page turners.

 

Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti books are good reads even if you aren't going to Venice.

 

I have read three Carl Hiassen books recently, they feature adventure, mystery, and corruption in Florida. If you like Hiassen, you might try Randy Wayne White.

[nyllrap]

James A. Michener for his rambling stories, the whole Harry Potter series (again and again ); Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" and "World without end" (again); Thomas Mann "Der Zauberberg" (magic mountain); most works by Stefan Zweig; Alfred Kubin, "Die andere Seite"; Gregory David Roberts, "Shantaram"; almost anything by Bill Bryson; Jonas Jonasson, "The Hundred Year-old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared" (FABULOUS book, turned into a turd of a movie); Donna Tarry, "The Goldfinch".....

Thank God for Kindle@

 

Your taste in literature is very similar to mine. I love Michener, Harry Potter, Bill Bruson, and "Shantaram."

[nyllrap]

I love this thread because I am a huge reader, on a cruise or off. My husband and I always have a book or a kindle with us on a ship, as you never know when you might have to wait. That way, you don't mind the wait, say sitting in an venue sitting in a good seat waiting for a show. Thanks so much for all of the book suggestions. While I do read fiction at times, I tend to read a lot of nonfiction, in a lot of different subjects. If anyone wants nonfiction suggestions, I will be glad to provide some excellent ones.

[CruiseGal999]

If you are character driven in your reading selections, have you tried Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Armand Garmache series? Set in Canada, this series of murder mysteries has one of my favorite sets of characters.

 

I just purchased The Brutal Telling. It's starting out pretty good. I like the loud, arguing family ..... Garmache's family. I grew up youngest of 7 kids .... was a very loud family. :cool:

 

I got this book on Nook for $2.99 so it's a good way for me to try this author. I can't start at the beginning and go in order, as suggested.

[CruiseGal999]

I love this thread because I am a huge reader, on a cruise or off. My husband and I always have a book or a kindle with us on a ship, as you never know when you might have to wait. That way, you don't mind the wait, say sitting in an venue sitting in a good seat waiting for a show. Thanks so much for all of the book suggestions. While I do read fiction at times, I tend to read a lot of nonfiction, in a lot of different subjects. If anyone wants nonfiction suggestions, I will be glad to provide some excellent ones.

 

I read a lot of true crime books. I would love to see some of your non-fiction suggestions. Thanks! :D

[XBGuy]

I like Simon Winchester for non-fiction.

 

Krakatoa was terrific. Great read for anybody sailing down there off SE Asia.

 

Now reading The Professor and the Madman.

 

Somebody above mentioned Bill Bryson. A Short History of Nearly Everything is an entertaining and fascinating primer on the physical sciences.

 

Another one that should be required reading for anybody who cruises: Longitude by Dava Sobel. This is a fascinating (and relatively short) read about the invention of the marine chronometer by John Harrison.

[Warm Breezes]

Nora Roberts tops my list.

[alexspepa]

Who is your favorite author to read on vacation/cruise? I bought and saved John Sandford's newest Lucas Davenport Novel 'Golden Prey'. But I need more titles/authors. Sandford only puts out 1 Lucas Davenport novel a year. IF I had my way, he'd be (Sandford, that is) chained to a desk crunching out the life of Lucas and Letty and his Criminal Apprehension lackeys. LOVE these characters. ;p

 

Do you bring books/nooks/kindles on your cruise or are you too busy?

hands down John Sanford is my favorite police author - I have read all his books multiple times and am rereading the Virgil Flowers series now.

 

I am also a fan of the Hornblower novels by C S Forrester - great books to read while on a cruise. Another good Britsh naval series is the Richard Bolitho one by Douglas Reeman.

[Bookish Angel]

I love non-fiction books on medicine, travel, science (particularly brain research), Buddhism and other Eastern religions.

 

Regarding fiction, I like many international authors writing about the immigrant experience or their own or adopted culture. I particularly like African, Australian and Caribbean authors.

 

I like paper book. For me, the tactile sensation of a traditional experience beats any e-reader. Plus, I can leave a paper book on a ship for others to enjoy.

[CruiseGal999]

hands down John Sanford is my favorite police author - I have read all his books multiple times and am rereading the Virgil Flowers series now.

 

I am also a fan of the Hornblower novels by C S Forrester - great books to read while on a cruise. Another good Britsh naval series is the Richard Bolitho one by Douglas Reeman.

 

Do you like the Virgil Flowers series as well as the Prey novels? I read 5 or 6 Vigil books, but it felt like something was missing. Have you read Golden Prey? What did you think? Are you going to like Lucas all over USA or the world? I'm having mixed feelings about it.

[lackcreativity]

I love non-fiction books on medicine, travel, science (particularly brain research), Buddhism and other Eastern religions.

 

Have you read The Canon, by Natalie Angier? It is a wonderful compilation of chapters, one each on the different branches of science. It is written with intelligence and wit, and is based on the author's interviews with a host of prominent scientists. I have read it more than once.

 

How about The Lives of a Cell, by Lewis Thomas? It is a series of essays on biology. Both of these books are extremely well written.

Edited June 13, 2017 by lackcreativity
typo correction

[alexspepa]

Do you like the Virgil Flowers series as well as the Prey novels? I read 5 or 6 Vigil books, but it felt like something was missing. Have you read Golden Prey? What did you think? Are you going to like Lucas all over USA or the world? I'm having mixed feelings about it.

 

I like them - Virgil's a different kind of guy but also a lot like Lucas in that whatever it takes to break the case he will do it.

 

I did read Golden Prey and enjoyed it - the criminals in the Prey series are always such interesting characters. I do know what you mean about him not being in the Twin Cities..I have never been to Minnesota but I feel like I know it very well from these novels.

 

By the way if you have not read his science fiction novel he co-wrote with Ctien - "Saturn Run" - it is also a very good book and I hope he writes some more in that genre...

[Sancho_proudfoot]

Oh my word that's a big question! Some of the favourites on my Kindle have already been mentioned - Connolly, Rowling, Sanford (I have a signed copy of a hardback of his somewhere) King, Pratchett, but I'd also add in Jeffrey Deaver, and George R R Martin ( Game.of Thrones series a good long read) and the master himself Tolkien.